TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR

From music and acting to modelling and social activism, these kids of celebrity parents are blazing their own trail

- NICI DE WET

SOMETIMES genetics and talent combine in the best possible way to produce a shining little star.

And Blue Ivy Carter is one of the sparkliest of the lot. She may be only eight years old but she recently became the second-youngest kid in history to be nominated for one of music’s highest accolades.

Blue, the eldest of pop star Beyoncé and rapper Jay-Z’s three kids, features on her superstar mom’s hit Brown Skin Girl and has been nominated in the best video category at the 63rd Grammy Awards, which will take place virtually on 31 January.

The song, an ode to women of colour, is up against the likes of Future and Drake’s Life Is Good, Anderson Paak’s Lockdown, Woodkid’s Goliath and Harry Styles’ Adore You.

Blue, who turns nine on 7 January, is beaten in the nomination stakes only by Leah Peasall of The Peasall Sisters who had just turned eight when she sang on the O Brother, Where Art Thou movie soundtrack, which took home album of the year in 2001.

If Blue wins, her gilded gramophone gong will take pride of place next to her BET Award for her work on Brown Skin Girl and her NAACP Image Award for best duo or group, which she won in February.

Among her biggest fans is her grandmother, Tina Knowles-Lawson (67), who was bursting with pride after her granddaughter’s NAACP triumph.

“The youngest artist to win a major award,” she said on Instagram. “Grandma is so proud of you – eight years old! You’re giving all the beautiful little brown girls a voice.”